Power of the Mind
by Kyuubi-Naruto19
Summary: A remake of the story A new Naruto by myself. A replaying story of the differences that can happen with the power of the mind.
1. Chapter 1

Now I know I have not been given permission to redo A New Naruto, but I thought I'd give it a try. I have not given up on Kage Scroll and will be up dating it soon.

Till then. KN19

A bowl of ramen said I don't own Naruto, Talk about harsh.

Naruto was livid. He couldn't believe what Neji had done to Hinata. It wasn't like he was close friends with Hinata or anything but still, how could anyone do that to their own cousin. He was going to Kakashi-sensei to ask him to train him to beat Neji.

"Can you please train me Kakashi-sensei."

"No Naruto, I have to help Sasuke with his Sharingan and I can't train you at the same time."

Naruto could not believe it. Kakashi wasn't even going to try to help him. Fine. He stared at Kakashi's retreating back and swore he would get stronger than Sasuke. He went home and went to sleep.

That night in his dreams he woke up in a sewer. Naruto looked around and saw himself sitting in a meditating position. The other Naruto cracked an eye open and said, "Finally made it down here, huh?" Naruto jumped backwards dropping into a fighting stance. The other Naruto waved his hand and said, "Calm down, I don't bite. I suppose you're wondering who I am and where we are?" Naruto couldn't talk so he just nodded his head dumbly. "Okay sit down, this is going to be a long story. Save your questions for the end, got it?" It was more a statement than a question. At Naruto's nod he began. "When you were around five years old, the pressure of trying to cope with everyone's hatred was starting to get to you. You were starting to go insane. Well your subconscious took action, and split your conscious mind into two halves. One half, you, was devoted to running your body while one half, me, was dedicated specifically to dealing with all the hatred. Follow me so far? He didn't even wait for an answer and starting speaking again. "So all of this time you have been running around with half a mind, which means all the training you did, all the studying you did, you had to work twice as hard and you still only got half of the benefit out of it. That is part of the reason you are so weak."

Naruto jumped up and shouted, " I am not weak!" His other half calmly cut him off and said "you have done remarkably well with your handicap, but if you were whole you would be over twice as strong. I even know some cool jutsu I could teach you. Now Naruto was confused and asked, "How could you know stuff I don't?" His other self simply smirked and replied "Well, while dealing with the hatred of the villagers along with running your body is a considerable task, by itself, it requires a relatively small amount of attention. Down here, it's nothing to do and all day to do it. I simply started experimenting with hand seals, and trust me, with years of doing nothing but that, you're bound to come up with some good stuff."

"So could you teach me a bunch of cool jutsu's right? Can you show me them now? Naruto inquired eagerly.

"I can show you them but as for teaching them, there's an easier way, but we'll get to that later. I know two techniques but they're pretty sweet ones."

With that Inner-Naruto got up and performed seven seals and shouted "Sanbataikuihou: Nenshou Tsuchi Dama no Jutsu." Several burning earth projectiles the size of basketballs were launched out of his mouth and when they hit the ground, they exploded, sending blades of wind and burning earth shrapnel outwards spherically.

"Whoa, that was the coolest technique ever!" Naruto exclaimed. Inner-Naruto smirked and said, "The best part of it is the Sharingan can't copy it." Before Naruto could ask why, Inner-Naruto started to speak. "The reason is because that was originally an eight seal technique, but if you have good enough control you can drop a hand seal or two from some techniques. However, the downside to this is that it increases the probability that the technique will fail. But if you have very good control you can pull it off with the same amount of success as if you used all the hand seals. Now for the second technique."

After performing 11 seals Inner-Naruto called out "Nibutaikuihou: Kazangan Taiga no Jutsu." A torrent of lava came from his mouth forming a river that swallowed up everything in its path. Naruto had stars in his eyes as he shouted, "Teach me those Jutsus." "No" came the reply from his inner self. Before Naruto could say anything Inner-Naruto spoke. "It's not that I won't, its just there's an easier way to do it." "What is it" Naruto asked. "Simple, we join. We become one mind again. This will give you the jutsus I know as well as catch you up on all of your back training." Naruto had the 'deer in the headlights' look. Inner-Naruto sighed. "When you trained before, you only got half benefit. When we become one, all of the benefits you missed out on will come back in a hurry. Your control will go through the roof, you will become faster and stronger, and since your mind is no longer split, you will become smarter as well." "What do you mean 'become one'." "What I mean is we will join to become a new person. There won't be a me or you anymore, there will be one new person that combines both of our patterns of thinking. If both of us feel strongly in opposite directions about something, the new 'us' will balance out in the middle. If one of us feels strongly about something and the other one really doesn't care, the new 'us' will inclined toward whatever it was, but not as strongly as before. If both of us feel strongly about something, the new 'us' will be even more strongly inclined in that direction. And if both of us don't care, then the new 'us' really won't care either" Inner Naruto explained. "Wait a minute, how do I know you aren't the Kyuubi trying to trick me into opening the seal?"

"Because the fuzz-ball is over there" pointed Inner-Naruto. Naruto looked and sure enough, there was a giant cage with a nine-tailed fox sleeping inside of it.

"Okay, lets do this" Both of them walked towards each other and put their hands out. It was like walking into a mirror, their hands went into each other, followed by their arms, then the rest of them. There was a flash of light and where two people had stood before, now only one person stood. He looked up and smirked. "Time to get up."

Jutsu list 

Sanbataikuihou: Nenshou Tsuchi Dama no Jutsu: Three Element Release: Burning Earth Bullet Technique; upper B- low A rank jutsu that is composed of three elements; fire, earth and wind. Each 'Bullet' is stronger then 10 exploding tags, but if hit in flight are worth less.

Nibutaikuihou: Lava River no Jutsu: Two Elements Release: Lava River Technique; a mid B rank to low A rank jutsu that is composed of the earth and fire elements. It however is more damaging to the surrounding area then a Doton: Earth Release jutsu because of the added fire properties.


	2. Chapter 2

-1I don't own Naruto

After getting up and showered, Naruto realized he had a problem. Orange. That was all that was in his closet. It turned out that while Naruto liked orange, Inner-Naruto hated the color with a passion. However, that was all he had to wear, so he reluctantly pulled his trademark jumpsuit and headed out the door. As he was about halfway to the clothing store something occurred to him. Most stores refused him service, and the ones that did not, horribly overcharged him. He didn't like doing this but there wasn't really any other choice so he transformed into a boy of around sixteen with brown hair and green eyes. He walked into a clothing store and asked the clerk for some help. He told the clerk he needed some clothes for his younger brother who was in the ninja academy. He went back and picked out four pairs of an outfit with black pants, a blue muscle shirt, and a slate gray vest. After paying for them he headed home to change. He decided to go to the old man Hokage to see if he could find him a sensei. Naruto burst into the Hokage's office and planted himself in front of his desk. "Yes Naruto, can I help you?" the Hokage inquired. "Kakashi refused to train me, I was hoping maybe you could find someone to teach me. If you can, I'll teach you my own jutsu. Sarutobi laughed and said "All right Naruto, I'll train you for the upcoming exam if you help me out with the paperwork, deal." "Of course, old man. When can you train me?" "We can start tomorrow, but how about teaching me 'your own personal jutsus" Sandaime said with a teasing smile. "Alright old man, out at training field 55 in one hour" "I'll be there."

One hour later Naruto was standing in the field with the Hokage and was starting his jutsu. Sarutobi was expecting something like the Sexy no Jutsu, but when Naruto performed the needed hand seals and called out "Nibataikuihou: Kazangan Taiga no Jutsu" and a river of lava twenty feet wide and three feet deep flowed from Naruto's mouth, the Hokage stared at Naruto in shock. Naruto took no notice of him and immediately started performing the second set of seals. "Sanbataikuihou: Nenshou Tsuchi Dama no Jutsu." Sandaime's jaw was now on the ground as twelve flaming bullets came out of Naruto's mouth and destroyed a good section of the forest. "W-where d-did y-you l-learn t-those t-techniques, N-Naruto?" Sandaime managed to sputter out." Naruto told the Hokage about everything and at the end Sarutobi was nodding thoughtfully, multiple personality disorder was a very common problem among ninja but he had never seen anything like this before. Naruto showed him the seals and set the Hokage to practicing. His pride swelled that he was teaching the Hokage something. At the end of the day Sarutobi could perform both Jutsu very well and Naruto was out of stuff to teach the Hokage. Tomorrow they would start training. When Naruto got there the next morning, the Hokage was already waiting for him. Sandaime held out a set of weights and a pair of black gloves with one-inch spikes set in the knuckles. After putting on the weights, Naruto could hardly move. Sandaime ordered him to run ten laps around Konoha. When Naruto back panting, he was forced to do five hundred sit-ups, push-ups, and pull-ups. After that they started working on his tai-jutsu stances and Naruto was surprised by all of the little things he was doing wrong and how different it felt to do them this way.

After two weeks of this Sandaime said Naruto was ready to learn his first jutsu. The jutsu was called 'Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu'. Seeing as it was so similar to the regular Kage Bunshin, Naruto got it fairly quickly. The second jutsu the Hokage taught Naruto was an advanced use of the shadow clone called 'Bunshin bakuha'. Afterwards, the Hokage asked Naruto if he knew anything about Summoning. When Naruto shook his head, Sarutobi explained that summoning was a technique that, after you signed a contract in blood, enabled you to call a creature to fight for you. Naruto was very excited and asked if he could learn how to do it. "Well Naruto, first you have to decide what animal you want to summon. I summon apes, but I can make a summoning contract for just about any animal." Naruto thought about it for a while and eventually decided on wolves. Sandaime made not one, but two summoning contracts. One was to summon enormous wolves, while the other one was to summon smaller wolves for the Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu'. Naruto got the hang of that technique pretty quickly, and moved on to the larger summoning.

As the Hokage stood back, Naruto poured all of the chakra he could into the technique and slammed his hand into the ground. One of the advantages to having his mind whole was that he could concentrate better and utilize his chakra more effectively than he could before. He could also draw on Kyuubi's chakra without going crazy. Out of a cloud of smoke a wolf larger then Kyuubi appeared. It was pitch black with sliver and a rift of red fur down the center. He looked up at Naruto and said, "Are you the one who summoned me?" When Naruto replied yes, the wolf continued speaking "My name is Gridus and if you want my help in battle you need to pass my test. You must stay on me the entire night." Without even waiting for a reply Gridus took off ordering Naruto to do some techniques if he wanted to pass." All night Gridus pulled every trick he could think of to get Naruto to fall off but Naruto held on stubbornly and when the morning light crept over the horizon Naruto lapsed into unconsciousness. Gridus placed him on the ground and looked at him carefully. "The sun has not risen yet, so I should fail him, but I like the kid." He turned to the Hokage and said, "When he wakes up tell him he passed." Then he disappeared. Sarutobi took Naruto back to the Hokage tower and placed him on the couch. It was only two days until the finals so he decided to let Naruto have the next day off. The day of the finals came and Naruto was standing in the field with the other contestants. He glared over at Neji. That bastard was going down. He was going to pay.


	3. Chapter 3

-1I don't own Naruto

"The first fight is Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji." As the two took up their fighting stances, Neji had an air of superiority around him and said "So you got some new clothes, you will always be a dead-last." Surprisingly, Naruto didn't blow up at that statement. Another one of the byproducts that the joining created was Naruto was now far calmer and more difficult to rile up. He simply stared at Neji and said "Less talking, more fighting." Neji got angry at this and charged. He thrust his right arm out and struck Naruto in the stomach. Poof. Naruto turned into a log and from a tree to Neji's left threw seven shuriken. He performed the necessary seals and shouted "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." The seven shuriken multiplied into seventy. Neji, seeing that there was no way to dodge began to emit chakra from all of his tenkutsu. "Kaitan" he cried out as he began to spin, creating a shield of chakra that deflected the projectiles. As he stopped spinning, two members of the audience were in shock.

"Father isn't that-" "Yes, that was my Kaitan." replied Hiashi Hyuuga to his daughter Hanabi. 'Talent like that is wasted on the branch family' he thought bitterly.

Down in the arena Neji was slightly upset about having to reveal one of his trump cards that early, but he wasn't worried. "It is your destiny to lose. You will never penetrate my defense" the Hyuuga said confidently. Several Naruto's rushed out to attack Neji while the Hyuuga simply stood there grinning. The first clone came within range and Neji struck out at it. He was caught completely off guard when the clone exploded, sending him flying through the air. The clones wasted no time, one of them going underneath to strike Neji in the chest knocking him back and towards the ground where three more clones were waiting for him. All three struck him simultaneously, lifting him back in the air while another Naruto came streaking down from the sky to smash his foot into Neji's face and drive him into the ground. With Neji apparently down for the count, Naruto smirked triumphantly.

Suddenly Neji turned into a rock and from the other side of the arena spoke up." Did you really think it would be that easy dead last. I am fated to win this fight, just as I am fated to be a member of the branch family.""What is fate exactly" inquired Naruto. "Fate is a predetermined course of events we have no choice but to follow. Everything we do is already decided by fate." Naruto shook his head. "Fate isn't real, it's just something people make up to blame stuff on when they can't blame anybody else." "Since you are so confident, I will tell you about the Hyuuga fate of hatr-" "Save it, I don't need to hear the sad sob story of your life. I promised I would take you down and I will. Prepare to be beaten." With than Naruto pulled a scroll out of his vest and unrolled it. He bit his thumb and wiped his blood on the scroll while Neji looked on, furious that the dead last had disregarded him, but also completely convinced that no matter what Naruto did he would win. After all, it was fated for him to win. Naruto performed several seals with the scroll between his fingers and then slammed the scroll on the ground crying out "Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu." Something seemed to be pouring from the ends of the scroll into the ground, but Neji couldn't make out what it was.

Up in the stands, Sakura and Ino were talking. "Naruto has put up a good fight, but I don't see how he hopes to win, Neji can block any attack he makes" Sakura said. "Yeah, Naruto is just a dead last, there's no way he can beat a genius" Ino stated. "Heh heh heh" Kiba chuckled from their right. "That's what I thought about him, but underestimate him and he will make you pay."

Back down on the field the ground around Neji began to shake. A wolf head came out of the ground and almost bit his ankle clean off. Several more wolves came out of the ground, two grabbing onto Neji's hands, two more grabbing onto his shoulders, one biting into his side, while two wolves each held his legs. One final wolf was on his back, its jaws around his neck. Neji was in shock he didn't understand what had just happened. He stared at Naruto's face and he saw a smug little smirk plastered on it. "Try using Kaitan, the force of them being dislodged will tear you to shreds. Surrender or my wolves will bite your head off." Neji stood there, knowing Naruto was right, but would never admit defeat to a rabble-rouser like Naruto. After about fifteen seconds Naruto shrugged and said "Have it your way." Just as Naruto was about to order his wolf to kill Neji, the examiner interfered saying the fight was over. Naruto looked over at Neji, remembering what he had done to someone already clearly beaten in the preliminaries. Naruto decided on just a little more payback. One of the wolves holding Neji's right leg let go and chomped him in his family jewels. Neji screamed and the wolves disappeared. Neji fell to the ground in agony as Naruto walked off the field and went to the balcony where the other fighters were waiting for their turn to fight. The people in the audience could not believe what Naruto had done to Neji. Many of the male members were holding their own privates in sympathetic pain for Neji. Tenten felt like going over and murdering Naruto but the thought of what he had done to Neji kept her in check. Up in the balcony Naruto smirked and said "Justice is served."


	4. Chapter 4

Today a bottle of Mountain Dew said I don't own Naruto. Worst Day Ever!

Sandaime's watched Naruto very carefully from the Kage's booth. Naruto had never been like that before. Then it hit him. When Naruto's mind had split several of his darker emotions had been buried. Plus the fact that all the hatred from the villagers had been channeled straight on to Inner-Naruto. When the two minds merged, not only had the darker emotions that had been separated from Naruto's main mind come back, the bitterness from Inner-Naruto had also come back so the new Naruto, while not evil, was far darker and more willing to hurt people than the original Naruto had been.

Sakura looked at Naruto with more than a little fear in her eyes. She couldn't believe that Naruto would take joy in hurting someone. She shivered and turned her attention back to the floor of the arena. Down on the field, Sasuke had not shown up for his fight with Gaara. After conferring, the Kage's decided to move the match to the end of the round. "Will Sabaku no Kankuro and Aburame Shino come down to the field?" Kankuro knowing he could not show his puppets abilities before the invasion said, "I forfeit." Genma sighed and spoke, "Very well. Shosha: Aburame Shino." "Will Sabaku no Temari and Nara Shikamaru come down to the field?" As Temari rode down on her giant fan, Shikamaru mumbled about giving up. Unfortunately for him, Naruto overheard and decided that just was not going to do and shoved him down on the field. Shikamaru landed with a thud and simply lay there. "The clouds are so nice. I could just lay here all day" were the thoughts running through his mind. "Begin" came the voice of the referee. Temari wasted no time and brought her fan around for a windblast at the prone Shikamaru. He replaced himself with a log and began to think up a strategy. Temari, however, had already calculated the distance she needed to keep away to stay out of his shadow's range and was blasting away with Shikamaru hiding on the backside of a tree. His powerful mind was analyzing scenario after scenario and could not come up with one that would allow him to win. The only thing he could do was dodge Temari's windblasts until the shadows covered the entire field. Even then he couldn't think of a way to beat her. She was staying well away from the walls so that option was nullified. Unable to think anything up, he did the only thing he could think of. "I forfeit." "What" came a disbelieving scream from Ino. "Temari is staying well away from my shadows and her wind blasts would have eventually destroyed the tree I was hiding behind. Even if I somehow managed to capture her, there wasn't anything I could do after that. There was no way for me to win, so no point dragging this out any longer than it has to be." Sakura shook her head and said "He really is the biggest and laziest coward on the planet." Shikamaru walked back up to the balcony with a "How troublesome." At that moment there was a gust of wind and a swirl of leaves as two people materialized in the center of the arena. One was a tall, silver haired Jounin the other was a black haired Genin. "Did we miss anything" Kakashi asked. Most of the audience face-faulted. "You got here in time for your match but only because the Kage's decided to postpone it. Will Sabaku no Gaara come down to the field." In a swirl of sand Gaara appeared. Kakashi teleported up to the stands and without any further ado, the fight was started.

Sasuke started off with a roundhouse kick that Gaara's shield of sand easily blocked. As the sand started to come towards him, Sasuke quickly retreated and made several seals. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu" a large ball of flame came from Sasuke's mouth. Gaara simply stood there, waiting for the shield of sand to stop it, which it did. "How am I supposed to beat him if I can't even hurt him. Kakashi told me about that shield of sand but I thought he was just exaggerating. I must win. I have to be the strongest so I can kill _him._" Sasuke was dragged out of his thoughts as the sand moved closer to him once more. Sasuke retreated as Gaara started holding his head.

"Yes mother, you will have blood, I will give you his blood" Gaara was clearly in a lot of pain as Sasuke started charging up electricity in his hand. Gaara wrapped himself in a sand sphere as Sasuke rushed toward him. Dodging the spikes coming out of the sand he slammed his hand into the shield. A howl of pain was heard from inside the sphere, confirming that Sasuke's attack connected. "Kakashi-sensei, what was that technique that Sasuke just used" Sakura asked. "That was my only original technique, the Chidori. It allows the user to punch through almost any barrier and is classified as an assassination technique." Sakura was impressed Sasuke knew such a powerful technique, and turned her attention back to the fight.

A gigantic hand of sand made its way towards Sasuke who was forced to jump back to avoid it. Gaara's hand went to his shoulder and he cried out in a crazed voice "Blood, my blood. You have hurt me Uchiha Sasuke. For this you will die." At Orochimaru's signal, Kabuto cast a sleeping Genjutsu on the entire arena. All of the civilians and some unwary ninja were put to sleep. Naruto felt himself becoming sleepy and realized it was a Genjutsu, but also realized he didn't know any way of countering them. Then he remembered an old academy lesson about Genjutsu, that in passing said if you suppressed your chakra, the Genjutsu wouldn't have anything to anchor itself to and you could break it. "No time like the present" he muttered as he suppressed his chakra. The Genjutsu wavered and he pushed his chakra down even farther. Success. The Genjutsu broke and he was free from its effects. He heard a loud explosion coming from the other side of Konoha. The invasion had begun.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own Naruto

Naruto rushed out of the stadium following Gaara and Sasuke, who he saw leaving as well. He joined with Shikamaru and Shino as they too followed the other gennins to the battlefield. As they were going into the forest they were intercepted by several sound ninjas. "Go on ahead, I'll hold them." Naruto summoned a ten-foot tall wolf and ordered it to help Shikamaru as he and Shino raced ahead. Shikamaru stared down four sound ninja with the wolf by his side. Before they had a chance to do anything Shikamaru threw down a smoke bomb, and while they couldn't see he got them all in his shadow bind, and let the wolf do the rest of the work. In less than ten seconds four sound ninja's throats had been torn out as Shikamaru released them a second before the wolf plowed into them. "Thank you for your help" Shikamaru said to the wolf. She nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

As the sound and sand forces broke through the wall on the other side of Konoha, they were shocked to find nobody there. A giant hand interrupted their musings as they saw a man that towered over the city facing them. "Ah feels good to be part of the old team again doesn't it Shikato?" the large man boomed. "Sure does Chouza" replied a tall, scarred man with pineapple-shaped hair as he used the shadows to form a hand and break a sound ninja's neck. "Your turn Inochi" he called out and a man with blond hair in a ponytail nodded and started forming seals. Seconds later, one of the sand ninja's turned and attacked his comrade .A short distance away things were not going so well. The leaf ninja were trying everything they could think of to stop the summoned snakes and nothing was working. As a large three-headed snake continued to plow through anything in it's path, a large toad dropped out of the sky, crushing it under the enormous weight. The leaf ninja looked up to see an oddly dressed man with white hair in a long, spiky ponytail doing a strange dance on top of the toad. "It is I, the legendary ladies man Jiraiya, author of the world-famous Ichi Ichi Paradise, who has come to help you in your hour of greatest need!" The assembled ninja stared at him blankly for a moment before returning to the battle. In the forest Sasuke was again facing Gaara who had gone into his mini-Shukaku state. He was now covered in sand taking on a grotesque appearance. Sasuke had already tried a Chidori on him and hadn't done much. Sakura, ever the devoted fan girl, had followed Sasuke and was rewarded with Gaara slamming her into a tree with sand and slowly suffocating her. As Naruto and Shino raced through the forest they ran into some problems. Namely Kankuro. "You go on ahead Naruto" said Shino in his expressionless voice. "We still have to fight one another" he said to Kankuro. "I won't forfeit this time" Kankuro replied as he unwrapped his puppets. Naruto moved out as the two prepared for battle. Kankuro started things off as he disassembled his puppet and sent blades flying at Shino. They struck and Kankuro smirked before Shino exploded in a shower of bugs that climbed all over Kankuro's puppet. As they began to eat at the chakra strings he used to control his puppets, Kankuro realized he had to do something quick or he would lose his puppet. Then he realized he had bigger problems. Shino had gotten close to him and sent a swarm of chakra eating bugs all over him. They began to suck his chakra out of him and he knew he had lost this battle. Shino left him there not unconscious but close to it, and almost completely drained of chakra.

At that same time the Hokage and Orochimaru were fighting on the roof. Orochimaru's sound four had formed a barrier that trapped the two of them inside and prevented anyone else from interfering in the fight. The two engaged in hand-to-hand combat until Orochimaru pulled out his Kunasangi. Sandaime had to dodge Orochimaru's sword because if it hit him, the poison on it would be deadly. Sandaime ducked under a swing and with an elbow to the gut forced Orochimaru back. He wasted no time in performing the summoning jutsu and the King of Monkeys, Enma appeared. He immediately transformed into his Diamond staff form and the Hokage picked him up. The two rushed at each other again trading blows and blocks. When the two separated Orochimaru spoke. "Sarutobi-sensei, I have discovered the secret to immortality." With that he pulled the skin off his face revealing a woman's face. "Do you like it, _sensei,_ all I did was take the Yamanaka clan's most basic technique and alter it into a permanent technique. Ingenious, no? The Hokage looked on in horror, sickened at what his student had become. Orochimaru laughed and began making seals. "Katon: Kyryu Endan" Orochimaru shouted as a dragon of fire came from his mouth. "Doton: Doryuheki no Jutsu" the Hokage countered and the dragon hit the wall and harmlessly dissipated. Orochimaru then began one of his most sickening techniques, Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei. As three coffins rose up, each one having a number kanji on it, the Hokage realized what Orochimaru was doing. As his mind raced through jutsus to counter it, one of the techniques Naruto had taught him came to mind. His hands swiftly moved through the seals and he shouted "Sanbataikuihou: Nenshou Tsuchi Dama no Jutsu." Twelve bullets came out of his mouth, four at each coffin. The bullets hit the coffins and exploded, destroying them before Orochimaru could finish the technique. Orochimaru screamed in rage and charged the Hokage, slashing downwards with his sword. The Sandaime skillfully blocked with the Diamond staff and thrust the end forward. Enma's head came out of the staff and bit Orochimaru's right arm, nearly pulling it off. Orochimaru reflexively dropped the sword and the Hokage kicked it out of his reach. He quickly followed up on the advantage, making seals and calling out "Doton: Doryu Taiga no Jutsu." He didn't dare use the 'Kazangan Taiga no jutsu' for fear of collapsing the roof. Orochimaru was swept away by the river and the Hokage made more seals, crying "Doton: Iwa Ryuu no Jutsu". A dragon made of rock rose up and it charged straight at Orochimaru. It's jaws opened and it crashed into him, tearing his left arm off and slamming him into the barrier. Orochimaru, seeing the battle quickly go in the favor of his former teacher, decided discretion was the better part of valor and ordered the sound four to retreat. Sakon grabbed the sword and Orochimaru and his henchmen disappeared. The Sandaime's breathed heavily, and made his way to the village.

In the forest, Naruto came upon the scene of the battle with Gaara. Sasuke was breathing heavily and trying to charge up another Chidori. His cursed seal flared and his hand crackled with electricity. He charged Gaara but the Shukaku vessel swatted him away with almost no effort. Sasuke smashed through a tree and fell to ground conscious but racked with pain. Naruto flung ten shuriken at Gaara, performed the necessary seals, and shouted "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." The mass of shuriken plowed into Gaara, making him growl in pain. He looked up at Naruto and flung several Suna Shuriken at Naruto. Naruto jumped over the sand projectiles and started forming seals. When he was almost directly overtop of Gaara he called out "Nibataikuihou: Kazangan Taiga no Jutsu." The river of lava poured directly down on top of Gaara melting the sand and encasing him in rock. Naruto landed and watched, having a feeling this was not the end of him. He was right. Several seconds later the rock cracked and broke apart from the pressure from the inside. An enormous amount of sand was being gathered and soon it took the form of Shukaku of the sand. Naruto immediately summoned Gridus. The wolf appeared in all of his glory, larger in size to Shukaku. Gridus eyed Shukaku carefully, rating him as a very dangerous opponent. Gaara forced himself to sleep and Shukaku emerged. Wasting no time he shot several air bullets at Gridus. Gridus leapt straight up to avoid the blasts and began charging a ball of lightning in his mouth. When he was ready he fired the ball at Shukaku, hitting him in the side and sending the tanuki reeling. He rushed up to Shukaku grabbing his throat with his jaws and wrapping his tail around Shukaku's back leg. Gridus yanked with his tail and pushed with his body, knocking Shukaku over. Naruto ran through seals and used one final technique "Sanbataikuihou: Nenshou Tsuchi Dama no Jutsu." A single bullet came from Naruto's mouth and hit right behind Gaara, blasting him out of the sand and waking him up. "NO, I JUST CAME OUT!" Shukaku screamed. As the sand began to fall apart Gridus' tail whipped around smashing Gaara into a tree. While the sand protected him, he cracked a few ribs and fell to the ground, coughing up blood. No longer needed Gridus disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto advanced on Gaara, and Gaara looked at him fearfully. He knew his existence might very well end today.


	6. Chapter 6

-1I don't own Naruto

As Naruto approached Gaara, he started to speak. "Being alone is hell, isn't it." Gaara stared at him uncomprehendingly. "I know what you went through. I'm a demon-vessel, just like you. I was hated, just like you. The difference between you and me is I have people who saved me from that. You can have them too. Your brother and sister. They might be scared of you, but they still care about you. They don't like seeing you in pain." As Naruto turned and walked away, Gaara smiled. He could be saved, even loved. He barely noticed his siblings picking him up and carrying him away.

It turned out that Shikamaru was the only one who made Chunin. Naruto's fight, while very entertaining, had little long-term strategy, and the examiners felt Chunin needed to think farther ahead than what Naruto had demonstrated. It was now several days after the failed sand and sound invasion, and team seven was standing at the bridge, each wrapped up in their own thoughts. They had all had to help repair and rebuild the city. Sasuke was jealous of how strong Naruto was getting and vowed to squeeze the secret of that power out of him. Sakura was dreaming about Sasuke. Naruto was thinking about what he was going to learn next. "Yo" came Kakashi's voice. "You're late" Sakura screamed. "Well you see…" Sakura's glare told him his idiotic excuses would not be appreciated. "Alright, Sakura, Naruto, I want to you to work on stamina and control. Sasuke, come with me, I'm going to teach you a new technique."

"What!" came Naruto's voice. Kakashi fixed Naruto with an even stare. "You need to get more control, you're not ready for new techniques yet. Besides, Sasuke beat Gaara. As a reward, he is being taught new techniques. If you had beaten Gaara, I would be teaching you new techniques. That's just the way it works." While Naruto trembled with rage, Sasuke's jealousy was immediately extinguished. He was thinking 'What is Kakashi talking about? Naruto used two multiple elemental techniques and was able to summon and Kakashi says Naruto needs to get more control? I didn't beat Gaara, Naruto did. Didn't he even read the reports on what happened what is wrong with him?' As Kakashi started speaking again, Naruto cut him off, "Did you even bother to review my fight, or did you just automatically assume you knew what happened." Kakashi crossed his arms and stated, "Naruto, you may have beaten Neji, but you still have more to learn. You can't rely on your special chakra all the time." By this point Naruto was visibly shaking, trying to keep himself from attacking Kakashi, while Sasuke and Sakura were wondering what the special chakra Kakashi was talking about was. Naruto looked up and said "I quit." Ignoring the shocked expressions on his teammates faces he turned around to see Kakashi standing in front of him. "What is the meaning of this Naruto." Naruto looked up and said "I quit, and I don't answer to you anymore. Out of my way." With that Naruto walked around Kakashi and headed straight to the Hokage's tower. Kakashi turned to Sasuke and Sakura. "What was that all about?" When Sakura explained what had happened during the fight with Neji, and Sasuke told Kakashi what Naruto had done in the battle against Gaara, Kakashi felt an enormous load of guilt settle on him, mixed with anger. Who could have taught Naruto those kinds of techniques? That was far too much power for a mere gennin. He couldn't think of anyone with a summoning contract for wolves. Then it hit him, there was no summoning contract for wolves, which meant that someone had made one for Naruto. The only person in the entire village he knew that could make summoning contracts was the Hokage. So Naruto had gotten the Hokage to train him. He needed to talk to the Hokage about giving that kind of power to Naruto.

Naruto walked into the Hokage's office and stood in front of the desk. "Yes Naruto, can I help you" the Hokage inquired. "I want to change teams. Kakashi walked in today and flat out told me the only reason I beat Neji was because of Kyuubi, and gave away my credit for beating Gaara to Sasuke. He said I wasn't strong enough to learn new techniques and told me to work on my control. I don't want to be on that team anymore." The Hokage leaned back in his chair, several emotions running through him. Disappointment and anger at Kakashi, pride at Naruto, and confusion as to what to do next. He thought about sending Naruto with Jiraiya, but there were disturbing reports about an organization called Akatsuki. Jiraiya's spies reported that Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame had been assigned to capture Naruto, and those two would be almost impossible even for Jiraiya to beat. So that option was out. He thought about moving Naruto to Asuma's team, who had just lost Shikamaru, but Naruto's abilities didn't really mesh well with Ino and Chouji's. He finally decided to move Naruto in with Gai, and move Tenten to Kakashi's team. Gai's team, no matter how talented, needed a nin-jutsu user, and Kakashi's team needed a strong teammate to inspire Sakura to actually be a ninja instead of a fan girl. Leaning back in his chair, the Hokage blew a puff of smoke out of his pipe. "Alright Naruto, I'll let you switch teams." He then called out the door "Get Kakashi and Gai in here." He turned back to Naruto and said "Naruto I think it would be best if you were to wait somewhere for this to happen. Both Kakashi and Gai have to sign papers allowing you to switch teams. I think I will be able to talk Gai into switching but Kakashi will be the hard one. You might not want to be here for that." Naruto nodded and left.

Shortly afterwards Kakashi and Gai came into the Hokage's office. "HOW ARE YOU TODAY, LORD HOKAGE. YOU'RE BATTLE AGAINST OROCHIMARU PROVES THE FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHTLY IN YOU." Both the Hokage and Kakashi sweat dropped. Sandaime was privately reconsidering whether or not this was a good idea. The Hokage cleared his throat and began speaking. "I have called you here because I wish to switch two of your students." Both jounins were listening intently. "It has come to my attention that Kakashi has been neglecting Naruto's training. I want to switch Naruto and Tenten." Before Gai could start ranting about the flames of youth Kakashi started in. "With all due respect, Lord Hokage, Naruto is my student." Sarutobi looked at Gai and asked him to leave the room. When Gai had left, the two remaining men in the room stared at each other. Finally Kakashi started to speak "Lord Hokage, were you the one who taught Naruto the techniques he used?" "Yes Kakashi, I taught him how to summon, and the Bunshin Bakuha, but the multiple element techniques he came up with himself." Kakashi jaw dropped to the floor. Naruto had _invented_ two high class jutsu. Before he could say anything the Hokage continued "Naruto told me you refused to help him for the finals so he came to me asking me if I could find a sensei for him. I decided to teach him myself and he taught _me_ the two techniques he invented, one of which saved my life in the fight against Orochimaru. He beat Neji and Gaara, and you don't even bother to find out what happened, and immediately hand victory over to the Uchiha. You completely disregarded your student, so when he came to me asking to switch teams, I agreed." "But Lord Hokage, Naruto shouldn't be using techniques like those, it's too much power for a boy his age." Kakashi argued. Sandaimes eyes narrowed. "I notice you didn't have any problems teaching Sasuke a B-ranked assassination technique, who are you to say what is too much power." "That was to prepare him for Gaara." Kakashi protested "You saw how powerful he was when he crushed Lee, that was the only technique that could break his shield of sand." Sarutobi looked at him sternly and said "That is enough, Kakashi, Naruto is switching teams whether you like it or not. You are going to sign the papers allowing him to change teams. I will not permit you to be so hypocritical. You're making the same mistake I made, training the one who has the most initial talent and practically ignoring your other two students. Sign the papers, and get out of my office." Kakashi knew any further resistance was pointless, the Hokage had made up his mind. He signed the papers as Sandaime called Gai back in. Gai signed the papers as well and the two left. The Hokage called Naruto back and told him where to meet his new team. Naruto nodded and left to go meet his new sensei.

As Naruto approached the field he saw Neji standing there with Gai. He approached Neji and said "Sorry about having the wolf bite you, but you needed to learn not to believe in that fate crap and stop being so nasty to other people." Neji looked at him and nodded. Training started with Gai analyzing Naruto's strengths and weaknesses in the field of tai-jutsu. "Naruto, you have a very durable body, a quick healing factor, a lot of strength and a drive to succeed. However, you are relatively slow, you have a short reach, and you do not know an actual tai-jutsu style. I believe you would benefit from learning the Lotus style, the style that Lee and I use. If you work hard you will benefit for" at this point Neji covered his ears, knowing what was coming. Naruto was not so fortunate. "YOU ARE BURNING WITH YOUTHFUL POWER!" Once Naruto could actually hear again, Gai instructed him on the training exercises he was going to do. Gai doubled Naruto's weights and had him run fifty laps around Konoha. Neji smirked, knowing this was only the beginning of the insane training Gai was going to put Naruto through. When Naruto came in he was ready to collapse but Gai set him to work punching a log one thousand times with each arm and kicking the log one thousand times with each leg. At the end Gai allowed Naruto to rest a little bit. While resting Naruto thought of something and voiced it to Gai. "Is it possible to use the Lotus without the bandages that Lee wears." Gai nodded. "It is possible, but it is harder to learn how to do it. If you can master it, it will be the same as the original Lotus style." At this point Neji left saying he had to meet his uncle for training.

Afterwards Naruto spoke to Gai. "Gai-sensei, about Lee" at this point Gai was all ears "how bad is it." Gai sighed "Lee's spine has been crushed. Any attempt to repair the damage and the bone fragments could sever his spinal cord." Naruto nodded thoughtfully. Then he spoke "Gai-sensei, Kyuubi's chakra has some very powerful regeneration capabilities. If I had a medic there to help me control it I might be able to keep Lee alive during the operation." Gai looked stunned for a moment before grabbing Naruto and racing off to the Hokage's tower. When Gai explained Naruto's plan to the Hokage, he conceded it might work but would be obscenely risky. He decided to leave the decision up to Lee. Gai told Lee about Naruto's burden, and Naruto's plan to help him. Lee started sobbing about the flames of youth and how Naruto was overflowing with them. He enthusiastically agreed to the operation. It took almost an entire week to get everything set up. The Hokage and two medics would be helping control the flow of the Kyuubi's chakra. They drew an advanced seal on Lee's chest to allow his body to accept the chakra without destroying itself. As Lee was put to sleep Naruto was brought in. With the Hokage behind him and two medics on either side of him, each holding onto him to suppress the flow of chakra if it got too high, Naruto placed his hands on the seal, and began flowing the Kyuubi's chakra into Lee's body.


	7. Chapter 7

(A/N: A quick thank you to dangerdoom for reminding me of the tai-jutsu styles. Remember if you find any mistakes of things you find wrong I don't mind you telling me. We work through mistakes to gain perfection.

-1I don't own Naruto

As the red chakra flowed from Naruto into Lee the medics began to work, cutting open Lee's back and searching for the bone fragments. Naruto struggled to maintain a steady flow of chakra, and he finally settled for constantly pushing more than was needed, counting on the Hokage and the medics to tone down the flow. The operation went swiftly and without mishap, and at the end Naruto collapsed to the floor, exhausted from using and trying to control that much of Kyuubi's chakra.

The next day Naruto and Gai went to visit Lee and discovered he was back to his usual self, ranting about the flames of youth and how he would do extra training to make up for the time he lost. Naruto quickly left when Gai and Lee began to hug each other crying out "Gai-sensei" "Lee." There are some things the human mind is not meant to handle. While Lee was recovering, Naruto and Gai continued working on the Goken style. Naruto was doing fairly well until he tried to learn how to open the celestial gates. As he opened the first one he felt the massive boost of chakra, power, and speed Gai had described. Then he felt the sinister chakra of the Kyuubi flood his system. "AAAAAARRRGGGGHHH" Naruto screamed. It felt like he was being shredded from the inside out. He lasted a moment longer before collapsing due to the pain. The chakra aura around him disappeared and Gai rushed him to the hospital. Naruto was found to be exhausted, but any damage he had taken the Kyuubi had already healed. Outside of Naruto's room, Gai and the Hokage spoke in low tones. When Gai explained what had happened the Hokage nodded and began to speak.

"Opening the gates not only sent a sudden surge of his own chakra through him, it also sent a flood of Kyuubi's chakra through him. His body can't handle that kind of power rushing through him so suddenly." Gai solemnly spoke "It seems he will never be able to learn Goken." When Naruto woke up, Gai informed him of this fact. Naruto was torn with conflicting emotions. Sad that he couldn't learn such a powerful style, and strangely, happiness. Naruto had never felt completely comfortable using the Goken, because he felt it was the commoner's equivalent of the Jyuuken. The Goken was Lee's style and Lee's style alone, and using it felt like cheating Lee out of the one thing he was good at. Naruto had very little time to ponder all of this, however, as he and Gai were summoned to the Hokage's tower. When they got there the Hokage assigned the two of them a mission to check up on Wave country and collect the rest of the payment owed for the mission to protect the bridge-builder. Only the two of them needed to go on it, with Lee still recovering and Neji training with his family. The two set off and arrived in wave country a few days later.

During the trip, Naruto had told Gai about the mission he had went on and how it had changed his view of being a ninja. When they got to wave country Naruto asked for some time alone to visit Haku and Zabuza's graves. When he got to the graves he saw a strange man kneeling in front of them. He had shoulder-length black hair and was wearing a brown shirt and gray pants. "What are you doing here?" Naruto calmly asked. The man turned around revealing striking black eyes. "I am the maker of the swords of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist. I am paying my respects to Zabuza." Why are you here?" the stranger asked, "I was at the battle where Zabuza was defeated." replied Naruto. Naruto then explained the whole story of the battle to the man. The man looked at Naruto, seeing honesty, courage, and integrity written on his features. He made a split second decision that would change Naruto's life forever. "Would you like me to make you a sword?" Naruto was stunned by the offer, but quickly recovered. "I would like that very much, but I don't want a sword as large as Zabuza's." "Very well, come with me." Naruto left a note that told Gai he was leaving for two weeks and he would return at the end of that time. Naruto didn't know what made him trust the man so easily, but he sensed the man was honorable.

When they got to the mans temporary workshop, he gave Naruto a sword and set him to practicing some basic sword routines while he worked. Four days later he emerged with a sword that was four and a half feet long, with a foot-long handle and a three and a half foot blade. The blade was straight and sharpened on both sides, about three inches wide at the base and maintaining that length most of the blade, narrowing at the end. The man held up the sword for Naruto to see, but he wouldn't let him touch it. "Before you take this blade, you have to realize something about it. The swords I forged are unique in that they take a person's elemental spirit and attributed it in the sword. Each person has a element they correspond with, be it Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, or Lightning. If you are heavily attributed to an animal, it will also take some characteristics from the animal and place it in the sword. You must perform a forbidden jutsu to seal some of your soul into the blade." With that he turned and walked back into the shop, motioning Naruto to follow him. He placed the sword in the middle of a seal and showed Naruto the hand seals for the technique. There were over forty of them, and if you did just one of them wrong, you would die. Naruto spent the next day practicing the hand seals and at sunset he felt he was ready to do the technique. There was no name for the technique, but it didn't really need one. Naruto performed the hand seals and slammed his palms down on the sword. There was a vortex of chakra, and a flash of light. When the light died down Naruto looked at the blade. "Whoa" was the only thing he could muster.

The blade was pure black, and had several downward facing notches on either side of the blade, making it look like a bolt of lightning. It was still three inches at the base, but the notches narrowed it until it reached the point. There were words on the hilt. When Naruto looked closely, he was able to discern the name of the sword: **Raijin**.


	8. Chapter 8

-1I don't own Naruto

As Naruto stared, the sword-master tried to pick up the blade. A blast of lightning came from it, delivering a rather hefty shock. At Naruto's surprised look, he explained "Each of the swords has a defense mechanism to stop other people from using them." Naruto looked confused and asked why he could pick up Zabuza's sword after the battle. The man shrugged and said "Zabuza never did the ritual you did. He attacked the Mizukage and fled before the sword was finished." Naruto had no response to that and began to examine his sword more closely. The hilt had several silver and black strands wrapping around it for better grip. There was a v-shaped extension coming out of the hilt, with the blade coming from the open end of the V. As Naruto continued to stare, the sword-smith began speaking again "The color of the blade reflects the most powerful and common emotions you have. Black represents hatred, anger, sorrow, and pain. Of course, your element was lightning, and you don't have a favored animal." Briefly, Naruto wondered why there wasn't something about a fox on his sword, but he realized that since the Kyuubi and him were two separate spirits, the fox didn't have any influence on Raijin. He came back to reality when he realized the man was speaking again. "Now we have to find out what your sword can do. Pick it up, and try channeling your chakra through the blade."

Naruto quickly did as he was told and picked up the blade. He thought the sword was around eight pounds, light enough to be wielded easily in one hand, and heavy enough to do serious damage to his opponent if it connected. All of this ran through Naruto's mind as he brought the blade up in front of him and began pumping his chakra into the sword. Black colored lightning sparked and Naruto started to flow more chakra into the blade. Suddenly the whole blade section of the sword seemed to grow hazy and was crackling like mad. Naruto was so startled he dropped the sword and the blade immediately returned to its normal state. A disapproving glare later and the sword was back in his hand. He started flowing chakra through the blade again, this time steeling himself not to drop the sword. As the sword again started to crackle, Naruto put more chakra into the blade, bringing it back to the state it was before he dropped it. As he held the sword at arms length he noticed the blade had gotten lighter, but he didn't really acknowledge that since he was completely shocked by what he saw. The entire blade was now a bolt of black lightning. Crackling with electricity, Naruto thought the blade could cut through anything. He took a few experimental swings with the blade going through trees and even rocks like a hot knife through butter. After a couple of minutes the man who he simply called sensei called him over. "Alright, now that we've found the principal ability of your sword, I can start deciding which sword style to teach you. You are small, have a short reach, are not very flexible, are very strong physically, and have a sword that can cut through damn near anything. So you need a sword style that helps you use what you have to your best advantage. Since your sword almost can't be blocked, and adding your strength into the mix, it's pointless to have you go around your enemies' defenses, so I'm going to teach you a style very similar to the one Zabuza used. It focuses primarily on powerful slashes that smash through your opponents' defenses. I'm also going to be teaching you how to block jutsus with your sword."

By this point Naruto was salivating at the prospect of learning all of the stuff sensei was talking about. He quickly wished he hadn't been so enthusiastic. Sensei set up a brutal training regimen, doubling Naruto's weights, and ordering him to do one-thousand sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, and a strange push-up Naruto had never even heard of before: the diamond. Instead of having his arms beneath his shoulders, his thumbs and index fingers were formed in the shape of a diamond, and placed under his solar plexus. Naruto thought it would make more sense to put it under his nose, but after just a few of them he realized exactly how hard it was having your hands so far back. And that wasn't the end of it. Sensei brought out a sword so heavy Naruto could hardly lift it with both hands, and ordered him to do one thousand slashes left-to-right, right-to-left, upwards, and downwards. Naruto's favorite slash quickly became a move where he brought the sword behind his head, and brought it straight over and continued in a powerful downward slash. After that, Naruto had to work on blocking jutsus with his sword. While sensei was not a ninja, he had learned several techniques and could probably be ranked as an upper chunnin. "For smaller techniques like the 'Suiton: Teppodama', you bring your sword around and simply knock them away from you. For larger techniques like the 'Suiton: Suiryudan', you bring your sword in front of you and flow chakra through the blade to split the attack and let it go on either side of you. We will work on the 'Teppodama' until you can block them easily, then we will work on the 'Suiryudan'" With that sensei formed several seals and fired twelve water bullets from his mouth. Down, left, up, down, Raijin deflected the bullets, but five of them still got through. At the end of the day, Naruto was soaking, bruised all over, and felt like he'd been fed through a meat grinder. That was the way things went for the next four days, until Naruto was able to block all of the water bullets sensei sent flying at him.

His strength had increased, as he was now capable of lifting the weighted sword with one hand. He still looked rather clumsy wielding it with one hand but it was still a great improvement. Sensei now sent Naruto to work on the trying to block the 'Suiryudan'. The first time he sent the dragon at Naruto, the boy had forgotten to flow chakra into the blade. The dragon slammed into him and sent the boy flying. Several tries later he was starting to get the hang of it. "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu." Success! The dragon hit Raijin and was split straight down the middle, leaving Naruto completely unharmed. Sensei nodded with a pleased expression on his face.

At the end of the training, Naruto set off to get back before he was late and Gai started to panic. He had never asked sensei's name and the man had never given it. Still, he felt a sort a familial attachment to the man. He had taken Naruto under his wing and treated Naruto like he felt a father would treat him. Kind but stern, encouraging him but not letting him slack off or do poorly. As he was musing on these things he walked into Tazuna's house with his sword strapped to his back, and Gai sporting a relieved expression, with a little worry and anger mixed in, met him. Sensing that whatever was coming was not going to be good, he hastened to reassure his sensei. "I met a man at Zabuza's grave. He said he was the maker of the swords of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist. When I told him about the battle he asked me if I would like him to make me a sword too. I accepted and he took me to his workshop and made me a sword." At this point Naruto showed Gai his sword and outlined his training. Gai was not to be so easily appeased. "Naruto, that was a very foolish thing to do. You had no idea if that man really was who he said he was. He could have killed you, or taken you for the Kyuubi, or any number of unpleasant possibilities you didn't even begin to consider. I'm very glad you're okay, but never do such a thing again. As punishment, when we return to Konoha, you will run five hundred laps around the village while wearing triple your weights." Naruto paled. That was a serious threat. Still, Naruto was glad he had went with the man. He had gotten a very cool sword, learned a powerful sword style, and had learned how to block jutsus with his new blade. All in all, he felt the reward was worth the punishment. He and Gai got up early the next day. Gai had finished the mission, and it was time to return to Konoha.


End file.
